LEAD Awards Again Honor Outstanding Performance of Numerous District Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies, Federal Prosecutors

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Law Enforcement Agency Directors (LEAD) of Western Pennsylvania recognized law enforcement officers and prosecutors from across nearly a dozen agencies during the 28th Annual LEAD Awards ceremony, announced United States Attorney Troy Rivetti. Comprising the Western Pennsylvania heads of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, LEAD bestows awards annually as a way of recognizing outstanding performance from law enforcement agents and officers, as well as prosecutors.

This year's awards included:

• The Lifetime Service Award was presented to Michael C. Warfield (retired) for his outstanding service to law enforcement across three decades, including 25 years as a Trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and several years as the Law Enforcement Coordinator with the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Western District of Pennsylvania. For 18 of his years with the PSP, Warfield served as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) federally deputized Task Force Officer, in which role he led numerous successful wiretap investigations of large-scale drug traffickers, including overseeing the district's first roving wiretap investigation (allowing agents to immediately intercept a target's next phone upon the target's discarding of his previous one). In 2019, the USAO hired Warfield as the office's Law Enforcement Coordinator, where he advised office leadership on law enforcement issues throughout the district's 25 counties and facilitated improved working relationships, crime prevention efforts, and trainings among federal, state and local law enforcement until his 2022 retirement and move to the private sector.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Greater Pittsburgh Safe Streets Task Force, DEA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Marshals Service, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, Allegheny County Police Department (ACPD), and USAO received a team award for their investigation and prosecution of an individual who attempted to murder a DEA Special Agent. The evidence revealed that the defendant fired 18 rounds from a semiautomatic firearm at the DEA Special Agent while the agent was conducting surveillance in a drug trafficking investigation. While many of those shots struck the DEA Special Agent's vehicle, the agent himself fortunately was not injured. The multi-agency response, and FBI investigation that followed, brought about the prompt identification, arrest, and federal indictment of the individual for the attempted murder of the DEA Special Agent, along with federal narcotics and firearms offenses. A federal search warrant for the actor's residence and the vehicle used in the shooting resulted in the seizure of more than 100 bricks of fentanyl, a 9mm Glock pistol equipped with a 50 round drum magazine, and other evidence. The defendant has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this year.
• Special Agent John Orlando, Task Force Officer Scott Patterson, and Operational Support Technician Rochelle Nestel from the FBI, Task Force Officers Thomas Costa and Jeffrey Morrell from the DEA, Inspector Jason Parillo of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Craig Haller of the USAO received a team award for outstanding performance for their investigation and prosecution of a large-scale drug trafficking organization following a series of overdoses, including one fatal overdose, in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The investigation resulted in eight federal indictments and arrests, the seizure of more than three kilograms of cocaine/crack cocaine, over 500 grams of heroin/fentanyl, approximately $180,000 in forfeitures, and 19 firearms. The defendants collectively received 921 months of federal imprisonment, including a 480-month (40-year) sentence for the lead defendant in the case.
• FBI Task Force Officer (TFO) Patterson additionally was recognized with an individual LEAD award for his invaluable contributions to the FBI North Country Task Force over the past six years. This included TFO Patterson playing a significant role in the successful investigation and prosecution of numerous complex federal narcotics trafficking organizations, serving as both a primary case agent and co-case agent on a wide range of important investigations targeting the community's most serious offenders.
• An individual LEAD award was presented to AUSA Maureen Sheehan-Balchon of the USAO for her lead role in the prosecution of two men-both of whom this year were sentenced to life in federal prison-for the premeditated brutal murder of a woman by explosive device. The evidence in the case showed that a bomb exploded inside the victim's Clearfield, Pennsylvania, apartment, fatally injuring the woman and destroying the apartment building by the resulting fire. AUSA Sheehan-Balchon and her team of colleagues and ATF investigators oversaw a meticulous, multi-year investigation to determine the origin, cause, and motive behind the explosion and to prosecute those responsible for the horrific crime. During separate lengthy jury trials, AUSA Sheehan-Balchon and her team offered extensive evidence tying the defendants to the bombing, including presenting several witnesses that testified about the lead defendant's threats and intimidation against the victim and others.
• ATF Special Agent Marc Wilner received an award for his leadership in investigating an individual who committed numerous violent crimes within the Western District of Pennsylvania, including the armed robbery of a hemp dispensary and a street shooting several weeks later, using the same vehicle. As a result of the work of Special Agent Wilner and his ATF team and community partners, the suspect was federally indicted on charges of Hobbs Act robbery, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, in addition to also being charged in county courts with attempted homicide, receiving stolen property, and aggravated assault.
• Detectives David Ernst and Quoc Vo of the ACPD were recognized for leading an investigation into a series of coordinated burglaries targeting federally licensed firearms dealers, during which the detectives identified connections between the burglaries and several additional offenses, including vehicle thefts and attempted break-ins throughout the area, and recovered 55 of the stolen firearms. The year-long investigation resulted in charges against eight individuals, totaling 1,433 criminal offenses.
• Special Agent Derek Bassler from Homeland Security Investigations was the recipient of an individual LEAD award for heading an investigation into the narcotics distribution and money laundering activities of a Western Pennsylvania resident. After determining that the suspect had been taking a bus to New York City to purchase narcotics, Special Agent Bassler organized a multi-agency and multi-state surveillance detail to observe the individual on such a trip and ultimately effect a traffic stop upon the defendant's return to Western Pennsylvania, which resulted in the seizure of more than five kilograms of cocaine and 31 grams of methamphetamine. The defendant subsequently pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, with forfeiture of cryptocurrency and a residential property.

LEAD is composed of the following law enforcement agencies: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania; Homeland Security Investigations; Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration; U.S. Department of Defense - Defense Criminal Investigative Service; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Probation & Pretrial Services; United States Secret Service; U.S. Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Air Marshal Service; U.S. Department of Transportation - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Veterans Administration - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Federal Protective Service; U.S. Food and Drug Administration - Office of Criminal Investigations; Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General; Pennsylvania State Police; Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole; Western Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association; Allegheny County Police Department; Allegheny County Sheriff's Office; Allegheny County District Attorney's Office; Allegheny County Chiefs of Police Association; Allegheny County Housing Authority Police Department; Port Authority of Allegheny County Police Department; Washington County District Attorney's Office; Westmoreland County District Attorney's Office; Pittsburgh Bureau of Police; Mt. Lebanon Police Department; Carnegie Mellon University Police Department, and University of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety.